In order to prepare materials with a cast metal appearance, it has generally been required to prepare them as cast metals per se. To do so, however, it has involved the use of equipment needed for working with molten metals or equipment necessary for die or investment casting or necessary to prepare sintered metal powder castings. While all of these various methods and techniques have been suitable with varying degrees of acceptability for certain applications they have all suffered some disadvantage. One major disadvantage to all of the foregoing is that the cost of the equipment and procedures involved generally makes it economically unfeasible to produce a limited and relatively small number of casting by such methods. Each of these methods has suffered one or more additional of the following non-exhaustive list of disadvantages; difficulty of obtaining good replication of pattern detail, the relatively high degree of skill involved in working with the techniques and the safety factor to personnel involved in working with molten or very hot metals or equipment.
I have now found that compositions having a cast metal appearance, which give good replication of pattern detail and that can be prepared at room temperature are obtainable by filling a polyisocyanate and certain phenol-formaldehyde resin compositions with metal particulate matter of proper configuration and curing said resin with a base catalyst having a pK.sub.b value in the range of about 7-11.
The art of filling resinous compositions to achieve various objectives is legion. However so far as I am aware none have prepared compositions as herein described and particularly having the overall properties of the present compositions.